


Rusted

by buckysknifecollection



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avenger Reader (Marvel), Drugging, Gen, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Platonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, Swearing, Violence, death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckysknifecollection/pseuds/buckysknifecollection
Summary: The team encounters Helmut Zemo, who activates the Winter Soldier.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Rusted

**Author's Note:**

> I totally wrote this just so I could tell Zemo to fuck off. Self care.

No one really knew how Helmut Zemo managed to escape the Wakandan prisons, find a group of minions and start planting threats and bombs left and right but he had to be stopped. Your team has been trying to find his location for weeks, but he always somehow managed to escape you. Now, you finally had him right where you wanted him.

Sure, crumbling, old buildings weren’t really your favourite hang out spot, but this would do. Zemo was cornered and all you had to do is find the exact corner of the building he was hiding in. Courtesy of Sharon Carter’s connections to the CIA, several vans of agents were stationed around the building, so no one left it without being seen. You wanted to avoid making too much mess, so the only people on the inside was your four-member team.

Sharon herself is currently in front of you as you enter the building, her tall frame clad in bulletproof gear and enough weapons to take down a small enemy squad all by herself. You’re equipped similarly and carefully follow her steps as you take in the large empty room. Silently following the two of you are Bucky and Sam, both dressed in their brand new, black and grey stealth suits and guns drawn and at the ready.

“Do you see anyone?” Sharon asks, the question directed to the agent responsible for the body heat scanner in one of the vans outside.

The comms crackle in answer. _“One person in the east wing, ma'am. Second floor.”_

“Downstairs?”

_“Nothing, ma'am.”_

“He’s alone?” You wonder under your breath. “That’s suspicious.”

“Sure is.” Sharon muses.

The four of you move through the room, four pairs of footsteps shuffling across the debris littered floor, until you reach a long hallway lined with doors. Before you carry on, Sharon motions you all to gather behind the wall.

“Isn’t it weird that his followers aren’t here?” She wonders out loud.

“Usually at least one or two are with him.” Sam confirms with a nod.

“There hasn’t been any movement from the rest of the group for several days.” Bucky comments. “I say they’re probably hiding somewhere in the area.”

“The team outside should be enough in case they show up, don’t you think?”

Bucky shrugs. “I counted ten people, we have thirty. Should be fine.”

Sharon turns towards you. “You said there’s a staircase at the end of this hallway?”

“Yup. Plans show a double staircase leading upstairs. The only other way up is the fire escape outside, but team Three has that covered.”

“Okay then, as planned.” Sharon gets her gun ready and adjusts her communicator. “Me and Buck will do a quick swipe of the first floor and you two take the west wing of the second. We’ll meet upstairs in about fifteen minutes.”

The three of you nod in agreement and before you move on, Sharon orders the teams outside not to engage until she tells them to and to keep an eye out for Zemo’s team.

You follow Sharon and Bucky, before you split up at the double staircase. Sam falls into step with you as you climb to the second floor, where another empty hallway greet you.

“Stay close.” Sam reminds you. He knows you like to quietly sneak away wherever your instincts lead you.

But this is no time to be chasing random leads. Yes, it seems like Zemo is all alone, but you don’t trust how easy this mission looks. Way, way too easy. And even though you have Sam Wilson by your side, you’re still careful.

All you can hear around you is your breaths and quiet footsteps as you check each room one by one. There’s no one there, but you won’t make a move against Zemo before Sharon and Bucky join you. From what you can hear over the comms, there’s nothing on the floor below either and they are about to return to the staircase and find the two of you.

“Last two rooms in this wing.” You murmur to Sam and point at the two doors opposite each other. Each of you opens one at the same time, but once again, you’re met with nothing but dust.

Sam waits for you by the door and waves you over. “Come on, let’s go back.”

You lower your gun and turn to leave the room. Your heavy boots shuffle loudly against the debris underneath but you pay it no mind.

Something on the nape of you neck stings suddenly and you lift your hand to scratch it. You gasp when you feel something sharp sticking out of your neck.

“Sam!” You call, you eyes wide when your fingers come off stained red.

The last thing you see are Sam’s wide brown eyes and him raising his gun.

Then, everything goes dark.  
_ _ _ _

Your head is pounding. There’s a buzzing, electric sound somewhere.

You can’t remember how to open your eyes, how to move.

Your butt is cold.

The air around you smells weird, like metal and mud and something else you can’t identify.

You bring you hand to your face and accidentally slap yourself because can’t exactly tell where your face is.

You feel worse than that time you foolishly made a bet you could outdrink Bucky.

No one could outdrink Bucky because the fucker doesn’t get drunk.

A groan sounds from somewhere in front of you and you crack an eye open. That’s painful too, the bright light blinds you for a minute.

Once you get used to it, you realise you’re in a strange room. It looks sort of like an interrogation room, there’s a narrow mirror on the wall directly opposite from where you’re sitting on the floor, a single camera right above, red light blinking, and an outdated speaker next to it. There’s a door too, it looks heavy and there’s no handle on this side of it.

Oh, this is bad.

You hear the groan again and you realise that’s Bucky, sprawled out on the floor between yourself and the mirror, which is most likely the two way kind. You try to stand up but you feel too dizzy, and it’s like your legs aren’t even working. So you crawl over to your friend, whimpering yourself, as your entire body aches.

Bucky’s gear is all gone, his thick bulletproof vest, all of his guns, his utility belt, the communication device and as you pat his pockets in search of anything useful, you realise those are empty as well.

“Bucky.” You shake his arm, and as you do you notice your gloves are gone.

Not only did they take Bucky’s and your gear, somebody took your brand new leather gloves. Those fuckers. You shake Bucky harder.

“Wake up, Barnes.”

“ ‘Mhea'hurs’..” He mumbles as he moves his arm away from you and lays it over his eyes.

“Yeah, no shit. So does mine.” As you slowly come back to your senses, you take another look around the room. In the far corner you spot Sam and Sharon, both still unconscious.

“Sam?” You call out to him but he can’t hear you. “Come on, Barnes, get up.”

You brace yourself against Bucky’s metal arm, which makes him complain louder, but you manage to get up with only a few pained gasps leaving you. You wobble over to your other friends, but getting down on the floor ends up being less than graceful.

Upon first look, they seem unharmed. Both have matching marks and a bit of blood on their necks, which you suppose is from whatever was done to all of you to knock you out. Their gear is gone too, even Sam’s hi-tech goggles that he always keeps on hand.

“Are they okay?” Bucky’s hoarse voice comes from right behind you.

You touch Sam’s face and try to shake his shoulder with your other hand. “Sam, wake up!”

It takes a few more tries, but soon he wakes up, his brown eyes glazed over and disoriented. Bucky is crouched next to Sharon, gently shaking her by the shoulders until her head rolls a bit and she opens her eyes to scowl at him.

“What the hell, Barnes?” She groans when the pain catches up with her.  
Bucky chuckles when she tries to push him away, but is simply too weak to do so.

“Easy there, you tryin’ to beat me up or somethin’?”

“Ugh, just help me up.” She stretches her arms out to him and lets Bucky pull her upright. Her legs shake a bit but between the wall behind her and Bucky’s hold on her, Sharon is standing.

“Sammy?” You try again and he manages to focus on you.

“Hey. You okay?” He grabs your hand that still against his face and gives it a squeeze. Sam’s voice is hoarse and he clears his throat a couple of times before he speaks again. “What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know.” You tell him as a crackling sound fills the room.

 _“You’re finally awake! Great!”_ Comes from the old speaker above the mirror.

Your team knows that voice almost too well by now.

“Zemo.” Bucky growls out next to you.

He takes a protective stance in front of yourself, Sam and Sharon as he turns towards the mirror, behind which your enemy is most likely hiding.

“Come on, Sam, up you go.” Sharon whispers as she helps you pull him up off the floor. He’s still dizzy and needs to lean against the wall, and honestly, you barely have the strength to stand yourself.

If things go south, you have no idea how you’re gonna fight, with so little energy in you and no weapons.

“Why are we in here?” Bucky demands as he takes a step closer to the mirror.

 _“You’ll find out soon.”_ Zemo informs you. He sounds like he’s in no hurry and before he switches the microphone off, a rustling of papers can be heard through the speaker.

You grab Bucky by the back of his shirt and pull him closer. He instinctively reaches out to put his metal arm in front of you like a shield.

“What do we do?” Your voice shakes a little as fear becomes the only thing you feel.

Bucky looks back at you with a worried expression at the same time as Sam’s arm tightens around you. The super soldier glances between his team members, and you can see he’s anxious as well. He doesn’t say anything, only resumes his position.

Your guess is Zemo managed to find a way to have his minions undetected, but you’d dwell on that later. Now you need to find a way out of there and then stop Zemo before he does whatever he’s got planned.

You turn to Sam. “I’m gonna check that door.”

Sam nods and starts to move his arm away from your waist, but Bucky growls out a “No.”

“Buck, we need to get out.” You try to reason with him.

“That door’s gotta be reinforced. Stay where I know you’re safe.”

 _“That’s very sweet of you, Sergeant Barnes.”_ Zemo taunts over the microphone. _“Now, why don’t we get to work?”_

Bucky tenses at the man’s words, taking half a step back so the three of you are pushed into the corner and completely shielded with his body. Sam maneuvers you and Sharon behind so the two of you are hidden behind the men. You hate seeing Bucky and Sam like this, especially with what happened last time they encountered Zemo. You can tell Sharon is uneasy too, but other than wait to see what happens, there’s nothing either of you can do.

Then Zemo starts reading. Each word is pronounced clearly and firmly, but slowly, letting each one sink. Sam snorts.

“That shit’s not gonna work, dude.”

You brave a smile too, you know the Wakandan team of medics and scientists and Princess Shuri herself worked hard to get the programming out of Bucky’s mind. How stupid of Zemo to think he can use the same trick twice.

At the third word, Bucky tenses in front of you.

“They’re different.” He says, his voice barely audible.

“What?”

“The _words_ , Y/N. They’re not the same.” He turns to you suddenly. He’s gone pale and his eyes are wide.

“Wh– How’s that possible? What are they?” Sam speaks up and you think he might pull you away from Bucky, but instead, he’s pulling Bucky closer.

“I don’t know. I don’t _know_ , Sam.” Bucky sounds like he’s about to cry and it breaks your heart.

Sam pulls him close and places his palms over Bucky’s ears, telling him to only listen to Sam’s voice, not Zemo. Bucky covers Sam’s hands with his own and lets out a gut-wrenching sob.

You were never a fan of Zemo’s but now? Now you want to rip him to tiny pieces.

You could faintly hear Bucky telling Sam to get away, try the door, that you need to run, but there was literally nowhere you could go. There’s nothing you could do and you doubt Sam or Sharon would have much more luck. You approach the mirror, glaring angrily at it. If only your glare alone could strike Zemo down.

You know what Zemo is doing, it’s the worst thing you can imagine. He’s going to activate the Winter Soldier and have him kill your team. You don’t know why he’d want to do that, but it doesn’t matter what vendetta he has against your team or ulterior motive. Once that code is read, there will be no Bucky.

Sam can hold his own against him, and you’ve seen Sharon do it for a short time. You could try your best but you know the only good it would do is delay the inevitable a little bit.

You are no match for the Winter Soldier. You’re going to be killed by your best friend in a matter of minutes. And when he’s himself again, and realises what he was forced to do, it’ll break him.

“Son of a _bitch_!” You slam the mirror with all your might as tears start to stream down your face.

You can hear Zemo chuckle over the speaker, and continue reading. Sam is telling Sharon to get back, Bucky is roaring in pain but you just keep slamming that damn mirror, praying it breaks. Zemo is on the other side, you think, having the time of his life torturing all of you.

The room goes quiet suddenly. Zemo says the last word.

You slowly turn around, scared of what you’ll see. Bucky is down on one knee, his head low, breathing slow. Sharon is slowly backing away from him as quietly as possible, pulling Sam by the hand. Even from the distance, you can see the single tear running down Sam’s cheek.

 _“Sergeant Barnes.”_ Zemo calls.

Bucky’s movements are precise and calculated when he stands up to his full height and faces the mirror, faces you. But he isn’t looking at you, no, his eyes are lifeless, empty. Seeing him like this chills you to the bone. Sam is waving you over as he makes his way towards you but you can’t move, you can’t even breathe.

_“Kill them.”_

Faster than you can blink, Bucky stands in front of you, his metal hand grasps at you neck tightly and he lifts you up against the mirror. You don’t want to fight him, you don’t want to hurt your friend, but as Sam tries to pull him away from you and screams at you to fight, you realise you have no choice.

You kick Bucky hard as you can, in the ribs, in his stomach, the center of his chest, but he barely moves even as you claw at his arm and face, flailing your body as much as possible, hoping to at least slip out of his hold.

Sam takes a few steps to the side, as far as the room will let him and breaks into a run, jumping up in the air and kicking his legs into Bucky’s side. You go crumbling to the floor as he lets go off you, coughing hard as you catch your breath and try to blink away tears. Sharon yanks you up to standing position.

“Try that door, we’ll keep him busy!” She tells you and pushes you back behind her as she too charges at Bucky.

You hate seeing your team fight like this. You’re gonna claw Zemo’s eyes out if you survive this.

The door, however, is completely useless. You can’t do anything with just your bare hands. If only you had your gear with you, you could’ve been out of there in less than ten minutes, but no, of course Zemo left you locked in the with no chances of survival. Bastard.

 _“You’re wasting your time.”_ You hear Zemo say and you just know he’s talking to you.

At the other side of the room, the vicious fight continues. The Winter Soldier is incapable of holding back, but at this point, neither Sam nor Sharon have any other choice but do the same. It’s a terrifying fight to look at, especially that it’s obvious they’re losing against Bucky, the super soldier’s strength is simply too much. Whenever he can, Sam yells at Bucky to come back to his senses, fight the programming, but it’s in vain.

You run at top speed and climb up Bucky’s back until you can wrap your arms around his neck and pull with all your might. Maybe if you can make him faint, you’d have a chance at surviving this mission. Sam continues to block Bucky’s punches, while Sharon does her best to knock him to his feet, but Bucky seems completely unphased by your attempts to stop him.

“Will you– fucking– stop– _AH_!” Bucky reaches back and grabs you by the shirt, then throws you away from him. You hit the wall next to the mirror and slide to the floor, exhausted and in pain.

The Winter Soldier stalks towards you again and you know you’re fucked now. He pushes Sam away when he tries to stop Bucky from hurting you and doesn’t stop charging until he’s crouched in front of you and pins you to the wall with his right hand, his left arm lifted up and slightly behind him, ready for the next, and probably last punch he’ll need to throw at you.

You screw your eyes shut just as he starts to move and you hear Sharon yell his name again.

“James!”

A loud bang resounds in the room, metal against concrete, echoing and making your ears ring and the wall behind your back shakes.

Then, it’s quiet.

You expect to feel pain, or blood dripping down your skin, but there’s nothing. Not even a sound. You peek your eyes open and gasp at Bucky’s proximity. He still has you pinned to the wall, his face right above yours, his eyes screwed shut and a pained expression pulling at his features.

Something falls on your shoulder and jolts you. You notice Bucky’s metal arm is extended next to your head, but when you thought he was going to punch you, he instead has it wrist-deep in the concrete wall mere centimeters from your head.

“Bucky?” Your voice is small, even you can barely hear it and you’re scared of how he was going to react. “Bucky, can you hear me?”

The man in front of you groans and shakes his head, his left arm makes loud clicking noises as it calibrates, but he doesn’t make a move to hurt you. For now, at least.

You slowly reach out and touch his face, your fingertips gentle on his jaw. “You can do it, Buck, fight it.”

Sharon shows up right behind him, places her hands on his shoulders. Bucky flinches, but otherwise doesn’t move. Sharon observes his reaction for a few seconds, then meets your frightened eyes.

“Try his name. That’s what stopped him.” She whispers.

Sam joins you then, kneels next to where Bucky is holding you to the wall. He takes hold of your hand and places his other on Bucky’s knee.

“James, do you know who we are?” Sam asks Bucky, but the man shakes his head, his face scrunched in pain still.

“It’s okay, that’s fine, keep fighting it.” You cup his face with your free hand and assure him. “I know you can, you’re strong, James.”

Zemo all but snarls commands through the speaker, so loudly, you think you can almost hear him through that mirror he’s hiding behind, but neither of you pays any attention to him anymore. Bucky struggles, his muscles flexing constantly and his jaw is clenched tight as he fights what’s happening to him.

You can’t even begin to imagine what Bucky’s going through, but the only thing you can do about it right now is be there for him.

Bucky screams in pain and clutches at his head as he falls to his knees, but his team is there to hold him up. Sam grasps Bucky by the shoulder, gives it a squeeze and leans closer so that when he speaks, only the four of you can hear him.

“Come on, James. Fight it.” Bucky gives his a few quick nods, the movements jerky, but he doesn’t show any aggression when either of you touches him.

Sharon’s fingers gently pry his own out of his messy hair, where he’s been pulling too hard. She moves them away from his face. She cooes quietly, assures him it’s all going to be alright. Bit by bit, Bucky starts to relax, first his jaw, then his shoulders until he’s calmly kneeling in front of you.

He doesn’t seem to be fully back to himself just yet, but he’s getting there.

“James, look at me, look at me.” You coax him and he opens his eyes, there’s fear there and confusion and struggle. “I need you to do something for me.”

“What are you doing?!” Sharon hisses over Bucky’s shoulder at the same time as Sam gives you glare.

“Relax, I have an idea.” You tell them, then face Bucky again. “Can you break that mirror for me? Please?” What your fists couldn’t do, Bucky’s vibranium one was sure to cause some damage and open an escape route for you.

Bucky keeps looking at you, and you’re not sure he understood, but then he’s nodding. Zemo keeps yelling orders and Bucky stands abruptly, then flings his left arm at the mirror, glass flying everywhere. You don’t even know when Sam manages to cover you with his body but when the shattering noise stops, you look up and find him shielding you.

All that lasts only seconds before, once again, you are yanked upright for you don’t which time in that one day.

“Go!” Sam pushes you and you jump through the hole Bucky punched in, ignoring any damage the broken glass causes you.

“I’m gonna shove that book down your throat, you piece of shit!” You growl as you immediately launch yourself at Helmut Zemo.

There’s another person in the room with him, one of his followers, but they bolt out of the room before you can even have a look at them. It doesn’t really matter anyway, because Sharon climbs inside the room after you and takes off after the runaway.

Now, from what you read about him, you know Zemo was in a special unit, so obviously he knew how to fight. But he has never encountered the chaotic and adrenaline charged beast that is you, pissed off and returned from being almost killed.

You knock him off the chair, fight him like a feral animal broken off a chain and he barely has time to block any of your kicks and punches. You don’t really land any substantial hits on him, not enough to hurt him more that a few bruises, but it’s enough to keep him occupied until the rest of your team climbs through the broken mirror and inside the room.

“Okay, that’s enough, Rambo.” Sam pulls you away finally. He already sounds a whole lot better, relieved even but you have other things on your mind.

“Let me go, Sammy, I’m not done with him!” You demand, struggling in his arms.

“Yes you are, now settle down. We’re taking him to HQ.” Sam sets you back down, but away from Zemo, who’s breathing heavily on the messy floor.

You huff and puff as you dust off your clothes. You notice you’ve got quite a few cuts and scrapes all over your hands, which sting and you’re getting blood all over yourself, so you give up on trying to look presentable.

“Find me something to tie him up.” Sam says, but before you can even start looking you hear metal groan and snap and Bucky is walking towards Zemo with a metal pipe in hand.

“Buck, no no, don’t!” You both think he’s going hit Zemo with it, but he only bends it around his wrists tightly so he’s literally harmless.

Bucky takes a step back and puts his hands behind his back and his face is mostly blank, but you can tell he’s pleased. By then Sharon returns to the room, takes a good look at the state of all of you, then drops a heavy box on the floor, which sends dust and dirt in the air and right in Zemo’s face, who coughs and complains. Nobody even cares about him though, because inside the box is at least a small chunk of your gear.

“Our stuff!” You squeal and dig through the box, giving out a gun here, a knife there, until at the very bottom, you find your leather gloves. Your mood is suddenly a whole lot better.

Meanwhile, off to the side, Sharon picks up a book that got buried under all the glass. She dusts it off and waves it for the rest of you to see. It’s the very same red notebook Zemo had used before.

“How did you even know he had the book?” She asks you, smiling.

“I didn’t.” You shrug and go back to digging through the box of gear. “He had one before, right? In my mind Zemo equals evil Hydra books.”

“That’s fair.” Sharon nods. She glances at Bucky, who’s eyeing the book in her hands suspiciously. She hands it over to him.

“Hold on to this, okay? Don’t give it to anyone you don’t trust.” Bucky nods and takes the book from her, bends it lengthwise and shoves it in his pants’ pocket.  
_ _ _ _

It’s a bit of an unusual sight, one might even say it’s comical.

Down the main hallway of the fifth level of the Raft strolls James Buchanan Barnes, to some known as the White Wolf, to most known as the fearsome Winter Soldier.

Right now though, he’s just Bucky and he’s about to have a great time.

Under each arm, the super soldier carries a metal chair and follows his two teammates to cell number 547. In front of him, with two more chairs, walks Sam Wilson, to most known as the Falcon, but more and more people refer to him as Captain these days.

Leading their little group is you, known to most as Agent Carter’s protege, metal bucket filled with scrap paper in one hand and a box of matches in the other. You’re whistling that song Sam loves and Bucky doesn’t care for and once you reach sector 3 and find the appropriate door, you punch in the code you were given by the guards earlier, wait to for the reinforced door to open and yell out a greeting for the inmate.

“Hi, dickhead!”

Helmut Zemo rolls his eyes from his spot on his sleeping cot, where he was hoping not to be bothered much today. He knew your team would show up eventually, though he had hoped that wouldn’t occur nearly as soon as it did.

He watches the three of you set up your chairs around the metal bucket, everything standing barely two feet away from the thick bars and bulletproof glass of his cell. You and Sam take your seats next to each other, but Bucky leaves one seat empty between himself and the two of you, for the fourth member of your squad that hasn’t arrived yet.

“We thought you must feel really lonely down here so we came to keep you company!” You tell Zemo and the boys snicker next to you.

You light a piece of scrap paper and drop it in the bucket, flames appearing shortly. Zemo is confused beyond belief.

“And we brought you a bedtime story!” Sam adds and waves at Bucky, who pulls out the red book with a dramatic gesture. You and Sam do an _oooo!_ noise and giggle like the kids you are.

Bucky opens the book on a random page, clears his throat loudly and pretends to read.

“Once upon a time….” He looks up at Zemo with a smirk on his face. “Fuck you.”

He slams the notebook shut and with the biggest grin on his face, throws it in the fire. Now that it’s been thoroughly studied and analysed and all traces of Hydra’s conditioning have been removed from his brain, the book was no longer necessary.

Sam and you whoop and clap for him and he gives you both high-fives while Zemo sits there and almost catches fire too from all the anger boiling in him.

“And to make this experience even more enjoyable, I brought marshmallows!” You even brought sticks with you, because if you’re gonna mess with Zemo, you’re gonna go all the way.

The Hydra notebook is steadily burning inside the bucket and the three of you are chatting happily while you impale marshmallows on your sticks, when Sharon Carter finally joins you.

“What the hell are you guys doing?!” Sharon stands just inside the room with her harms propped on her hips. “You were supposed to wait for me!”

“Sowwy, mom!” The three of you mumble over a mouthful of sweet candy.

Sharon Carter decides to forgive her team this one time and takes the seat save for her. Nothing beats having a mini campfire in the middle of an ocean while your enemy can do nothing but watch you celebrate.


End file.
